Meta's latest subscription move is an attempt to offset its AI bets

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨tonytins@pawb.social⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.world⁩

https://appleinsider.com/articles/26/01/27/metas-latest-subscription-move-is-an-attempt-to-offset-its-ai-bets

On January 26, Meta announced that it was going to test premium subscriptions across its apps. The subscriptions will offer exclusive features and expanded AI tools, while ad-supported versions remain free.

Under the test, users are presented with a clear choice between two paths. People can subscribe to use Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp without ads, or continue using the services for free while agreeing to ongoing data use for advertising purposes.

Meta claims the subscriptions will “unlock productivity, creativity, and AI-powered features,” with each app receiving its own set of paid tools rather than a single bundled plan. The company isn’t committing to one configuration and plans in order to experiment with different feature sets and pricing models over time.

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ok_effect@feddit.dk ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Do people still use Meta’s products?

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xcjs@programming.dev ⁨5⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Honestly, if this reduces user-hostile UI changes for paid accounts, and I can get a chronological feed of just friend activity with original content, I’d pay it at this point.

(I know there is supposed to be a friends-only feed now, but it’s not even close to being friends-only still.)

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- deltaspawn0040@lemmy.zip ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Seriously? You’re gonna pay money to this guy?
  
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  - xcjs@programming.dev ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    I mean, do I want to give money to a billionaire? Not exactly.
    
    On the other hand, if we don’t start supporting premium software services and open source projects, the enshtiffication trend will get worse.
    
    I have to choose among my principles, and I’m strongly against user-hostile UI/UX paradigms, enshittification, and other downard quality trends in software/services.
    
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MagicShel@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

users are presented with a clear choice between two paths

There is a third path. Just stop being a user. Maybe that choice isn’t clear enough. Push notifications are fucking evil. I removed the app and use FB as a PWA about once every six months. I might use it more if it had content from my friends or anyone I gave a fuck about, but instead it’s all promotions and suggestions.

Without the little red number creating FOMO on my phone, I haven’t no impulse to check it. Yet I check Lemmy several times a day. I check Bluesky every couple of days. Because every time I open them, someone I want to hear from is posting something I want to see. You should try that, Zuck.

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- Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  I haven’t touched a facebook product in almost 15 years and my life has been nothing but better for it.
  
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  - captainlezbian@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    Shit yeah that’s about how long for me. Gods, I remember talking about how cool and futuristic Facebook was back in like 08, but in my defense I was a middle schooler. I rapidly saw it morph into a hub of unpleasantness and bailed.
    
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  - bluGill@fedia.io ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    There are a few things facebook is better at than anything in my life - checking up on distant friends that I wouldn't call normally but I want to know the big events in their life; ensuring my parent see pictures of my kids (we don't live in the same state). However those things only need a couple minutes of my time per day, and that isn't enough to make them a big company and so they keep shoving garbage that doesn't make my life better in my face. That garbage takes up hours per day of many people's time and is worth a lot to facebook.
    
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- a_non_monotonic_function@lemmy.world ⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Man, you have no idea how old their user basis.
  
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- officermike@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  Probably 4-6 months ago I finally reached my breaking point. Facebook used to be centered around friends. Sure, most of them are now dormant on the platform, but for those that were still active, they were still buried amongst piles of far-right bullshit that I never asked for and that wouldn’t go away no matter how much I clicked “see less like this.” I deleted the Android app and logged in via mobile browser. I still occasionally check the happenings in my industry’s Facebook groups and my HOA, but Facebook is otherwise dead to me.
  
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cybernihongo@reddthat.com ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
A premium tier for WhatsApp? The app I want to get rid of but can’t because employers can’t be assed to send emails or make phone calls first?

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- baggachipz@sh.itjust.works ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  What kind of shitass employer would require the use of WhatsApp? Do they make you use TikTok to clock in?
  
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  - YaksDC@sh.itjust.works ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    A huge portion of Europe runs on WhatsApp. And many places use it as there primary communication for customers.
    
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  - restingboredface@sh.itjust.works ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    It’s everywhere. Been looking at moving to Latin America (Uruguay or Panama specifically) and many businesses there don’t even have/publish regular phone numbers. The tour companies I traveled with said you can’t get anything done without whatsapp.
    
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PushButton@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

Meta claims the subscriptions will "unlock productivity

Productivity… on Facebook? God they are desperately need to sell you something here.

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- tonytins@pawb.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  It was literally Zuck’s whole pitch for VR.
  
  Meetings! Now in 3D.
  
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  - PabloSexcrowbar@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    I worked there during the whole VR pitch and they tried to encourage those of us with headsets to join meetings with them.
    
    Nobody had legs. It was a huge selling point of the Quest Pro that you could have legs.
    
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- Tollana1234567@lemmy.today ⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  facebook is about 90-99% bots, cant get any more productive than that.
  
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- bluGill@fedia.io ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  If they show me the pictures of my friends, while hiding all the garbage (outrage politics, "you won't believe this"...) so I spend about 2 minutes a day there and get off it would greatly increase productivity. Well it would lower mine because I almost never check facebook anymore - but my life would be enhanced if they limited themselves to the useful things they do and let me go in 2 minutes: a trade off that would be worth it.
  
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eronth@lemmy.world ⁨21⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
How long until the premium version also has ads? It’s the clear trend at this point.

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FreddiesLantern@leminal.space ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Keep it up asshole, keep pissing people off.

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9point6@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
I hit this today when I went to check a local restaurant’s Instagram for the menu (like many I’ve come across, they treat Instagram as their website)

Nope

Between this and Twitter I’m pretty annoyed at how much harder it is to get local information without just physically going to a place compared to 5 years ago. I’m not gonna pretend it used to be perfect, but this is getting spectacularly shitty

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- Cherry@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  This drives me crazy. Hopefully it’s the start of the end for FB.
  
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realitista@lemmus.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Who in the fuck would do this?

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DerdWurst@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
These bastards got market place on lock. Luckily with graphene I sand box the tracking apps in another profile(for now). Fucken sucks though. Work/family use what’s app as well. We need alternatives, but most people just dont care or think about it.

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UnspecificGravity@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Guarantee that your data still gets used to feed you ads with the “premium” subscription.

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Foofighter@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨16⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
So, all the bots are supposed to pay or watch add’s? That’s insane!

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Doomsider@lemmy.world ⁨20⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Pays us to spy on you!

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SeaSgt@lemmy.zip ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Why the fuck do ppl still use Meta and its suite of spy apps. Not to mention he has a special set of knee pads when he cups the orange fascist shriveled nut sack.

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- MalReynolds@slrpnk.net ⁨20⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  
  Why the fuck
  
  did they ever ?
  
  (trust Zuck, “dumb fucks”)
  
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EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Subscription? For Fascbook? Is this something sort of fucking joke?

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NarrativeBear@lemmy.world ⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Is this image in the article AI generated or a meta replicant?

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- brsrklf@jlai.lu ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Not sure, but who needs a Voigt-Kampff test with replicants looking that bad?
  
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panda_abyss@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
I know I would be more creative if I handed Zuck my money monthly. No doubt about it.

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Pika@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
honestly, with how much my grandfather uses facebook, and how often he clicks the stupid scam ads, this might be a valid option for him that is easier.

This ofc is if they decide to launch this program for <3$ a month. If it’s anything more than that I see it flopping on entry.

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- UnspecificGravity@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  I doubt they are actually going to block scams with the subscription service. Probably just block banner ads or some shit but keep the fake posts and such.
  
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tomiant@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Of all the faces I hate most on planet earth, that dildo’s is second.

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W3dd1e@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
It’s too late. You already spent 20+ years training people to use the shittiest version you could give them.

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JoeKrogan@lemmy.world ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
More signal users incoming

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My_IFAKs___gone@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
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dantel@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
I’ve never noticed until now that Zuckerberg looks like a giraffe.

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- My_IFAKs___gone@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  I can’t believe you would insult the noble giraffe species with such an insensitive comment.
  
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- Tollana1234567@lemmy.today ⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  a cylon perhaps, with thier long prehensile neck.
  
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